The Duke of Rothesay started it in Glasgow yesterday.
Aiming to encourage people to START to do what they can to make better use of natural resources and protect the environment, Prince Charles is making a whistle-stop tour of the UK in a train fuelled by recycled cooking oil, to visit good examples of what is being done already.
START – is a co-operative of partners who have all started down the eco friendly line.
The initiative was launched in Glasgow with the Duke going walk-about among the stands in Glasgow Central Station.
After being welcomed by Lord Provost Bob Winter, he chatted with people in the crowd and made Nancy Gray’s day. From Shettleston, the 74-year-old is an avowed Royalist. ‘I just love the Royal Family,’ said the retired tailoress. But when

The Duke of Rothesay with Lord Provost Bob Winter and Jane Wood, Chief Executive of Scottish Business in the Community in Glasgow Central Station at the launch of START.

Prince Charles shook her hand and said he hoped he was not interrupting her day, she went all aflutter. Literally shaking with excitement, Nancy told the LOCAL NEWS: ‘I came here specially to see him.’ She followed the Royal entourage around all the stalls which highlighted what could be done to START looking after the planet better.
Price Charles – who is correctly addressed as the Duke of Rothesay when he is in Scotland – first dropped off a pair of his old green cord trousers into the Oxfam clothes recycling point.
Waitrose showed off their new trolley which can be borrowed by customers from their Byres Road shop, starting this week. It is fitted to the customer’s bicycle and enables them to pedal home with a big amount of shopping.
Cube Housing Association was able to illustrate their new district heating scheme on the Wyndford Estate in Maryhill. The cost effective system delivers low-carbon energy and reduces carbon emissions in a whole neighbourhood.

Virgin Money had a wish tree to get people to promise to do something – and they’ll come back to you in a month’s time to see if you’ve done it for the planet.
B & Q staff showed the Prince how they make peat free compost. ‘He was really interested in what we’re doing,’ said Douglas Szafranek.
Husband and wife team Alan and Hazel Tomkins were delighted to be presented with their award for sustainable business for their restaurants which include Gamba, Urban and Dining Room in Glasgow. The first such award from the START group, the company has worked to train staff in food safety, minimising waste and maximising on local produce. Said Alan Tomkins: ‘It is very special to have been recognised for this.’
Four young apprentices from City Building’s Queenslie training centre in Glasgow, explained to the Prince how they are building two different models of sustainable houses to test what works best. Said Laura Twigg (18): ‘He was interested in the fact that we used tyres as one of the building materials.’ Michael Connelly (17) commented: ‘It was a great honour to meet Prince Charles. I never would have imagined I’d meet a member of the Royal family one day.’ Naveed Mohammed (19) admits he’s been bragging about meeting the Prince since he knew he’d been selected for the START event. And Brian Docherty (17) found the Prince asked a lot of questions about the pipe layout in the sustainable houses.

Glasgow City Council had a large number of stands in their exhibition. Most noticeable was a Peugeot electric seven seater vehicle which came from Allied Vehicles in Possilpark and is one of the fleet of electric vehicles the city has purchased. Said Allied Vehicles managing director Paul Nelson: ‘The Prince was very interested in the project. Glasgow city has purchased 10 of these seven seaters and 30 smaller vehicles – called Peugeot Partners – from us.’
Quietly in the background, Richard Bellingham, Senior Research Fellow on energy Policy at the University of Strathclyde’s Fraser of Allander Institute, was pleased that a report produced by the Institute had brought together so many of the organisations in Glasgow which are STARTing to implement sustainability procedures. ‘By drawing in the right partners, the benefits will be real for the city and more likely to be supported and therefore, stronger,’ he said.
At the end of the tour, Jane Wood, Chief Executive of Scottish Business in the Community said that Scotland – home of the Enlightenment – should be proud of leading the way in carbon reduction and sustainability as instanced by the work shown on the stands the Duke of Rothesay had toured. She was wearing an eye-catching outfit designed by Joey Dee of Edinburgh and using 75% recycled materials.
Before Prince Charles boarded his train to go to Edinburgh where a similar exhibition was to be visited, he told the assembled crowd: ‘START is all about what each one of us can do for the benefit of our children and our children’s children. It can be really simple to make better use of natural resources. Each of the major sponsors of START have their own message because they know their own customers best. Through these initiatives we are leading by example and showing what can be done to make that first step to sustainability.’
He added: ‘Glasgow is good at working together. This will take the city forward to develop the brand Sustainable Glasgow.’

Editor's Corner

The attitude towards refugees in Europe is appalling. According to the London Times there are secret plans to make criminals out of those who step forward and rescue people from the waters of the Mediterranean. It is time for people of humanity to speak out. Niemöller had been imprisoned for eight years in concentration camps […]